, Columnist
Shopping Malls Face Their Coronavirus Reckoning
As employers and governments tell people to stay put and avoid crowds, retailers should worry more about empty shops than empty shelves.
As the coronavirus spreads, will more malls look like this one in Italy?
Photographer: Francesca Volpi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The biggest coronavirus risk to retailers on both sides of the Atlantic may turn out to be empty stores, rather than empty shelves.
As the outbreak has spread from Asia to Europe and the U.S., concern has shifted from the impact on supply chains because of closed Chinese factories to the potential of the deadly disease to put a sudden brake on consumer spending.